PSVR Aim Controller Review: Feel The Game Like Never Before

I’ve never really cared for peripheral devices. As much as I loved playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band (and I really loved it, ask any of my past neighbors) I still hated having to plug extra stuff into my system. Plus, it takes up so much extra room and it never, ever, works as well as advertised.

After VR headsets started coming out though I had to get used to having a clunky add-on around really quickly. But now that we’re a full year into the life cycle of the consumer VR market peripherals for add-ons (such as the PlayStation VR (PSVR) Aim Controller for the PSVR itself) are now a thing and the amount of space they take up is more than doubled.

But don’t worry. I’m here to tell you that the PSVR Aim Controller is, despite the odds, an extra hunk of plastic all PSVR owners are gonna want to have laying around the house.

(Note: The above video was recorded and edited last week, prior to the game’s launch. Apologies for the outdated references.)

Stylistically it isn’t appealing at all. Frankly, it’s ugly. The grayish-white color looks unfinished and the visual design clearly looks like a rejected gadget that no kid wanted from the toy store. In that sense, it fits right in with the dorky light-bulb style of the PlayStation Move controllers. In fact, it even has a similar bulb at the end.

Luckily though, when you’re in VR, it doesn’t matter what the thing in your hand looks like — it only matters how it feels to use and in terms of pure ergonomics I honestly can’t think of a single issue. The best design decision that Sony (and Impulse Gear, developers of Farpoint) made while crafting the gun is that it’s 100% ambidextrous — meaning it can be used either right or left-handed without any issues.

Every button is either duplicated on both sides or easily accessible regardless of hand positioning, but at the same time, it isn’t uncomfortable, which is typically the case with most other dual-handed devices such as computer mice.

The only game I was able to adequately test it out with that featured full support as of the time of this publication was Farpoint. The game supported both standard DualShock 4 gameplay, as well as the PSVR Aim Controller, and I can say without a doubt that the Aim dramatically improved the game.

The closest comparison would be the difference between playing a seated gamepad VR game and one that asks you to stand with the Oculus Touch controllers or HTC Vive wands. However, the immersion is even beyond that. For the specific use cases of holding a two-handed rifle in your hands for VR, it doesn’t get much better than the PSVR Aim Controller.

In terms of tracking effectiveness, it seemed to work about the same, or slightly better than, PlayStation’s Move controllers. The light bulb at the end has to be pointed at the camera at all times and there is a definitive floor and ceiling to the tracking range.

For example, if I lift the controller up above my head or hold it too far below my waist, the camera can no longer see it. Erratic and quick movements also caused the camera to get fussy and lose track of my exact position.

In most cases this is fine but if I’m in the middle of an intense firefight, it sucks that I can’t spin around behind me and have to instead use the analog stick to turn. Or I can’t kneel down to take cover behind something because the camera can no longer see where the gun is located.

For what it’s worth, a lot of these issues could be solved if Sony introduced a second tracking camera or another better way to track the lights of the headset and controllers.

Final Recommendation:Absolutely

Sony’s PlayStation VR Aim Controller is a breath of fresh air for the PSVR platform. While it’s held back by the frustrating technical limitations of the hardware, it brings a much-needed added layer of real immersion to appropriate experiences. If you plan on playing Farpoint or any other game that would benefit from a two-handed rifel peripheral, then it’s a must-buy device.

Related

I got to try the Aim Controller with Farpoint at PAX last year and it really is amazingly immersive. One of the most immersive VR experiences I have tried. I just wish the PSVR had a better tracking system like the Vive or Oculus platforms. C’mon Sony, let gamers turn around.

Harry Starzec

Oculus isn’t great when it comes to tracking either, at least if you only have a single sensor. It loses track of the Touch controllers when you turn around. Vive should be a gold standard for tracking in all future VR headsets that use external tracking.

Oliver Cook

You need 3 sensors for oculus touch for 360. Using 1 won’t cut it. With 3 sensors tracking is absolutely on par with vive.

Muhammad Jihad ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ

For 180 games 2 sensors works perfectly with the Rift, in particular if you set them up so it’s more catty-corner instead of straight on. But yes, with 3 sensors, it’s dead on perfect for 360, the only real drawback for 360 is space, it requires a lot of it, and the wires, but man is it fantastic to use. Meanwhile the PS4 reuses their low res garbage camera that I had at launch, and it’s terrible. Not sure why they won’t allow you to hook up another one or two or three other than the PS4 not having the data bandwidth to handle it (not knocking the PS4, talking about USB bandwidth which is a problem on many PC’s too when you have everything hooked up).

iUserProfile

So it loses tracking if you obscure it or hold it out of reach of the camera. I don’t really find that surprising and I don’t know if this should be attributed to the controller – It’s more a problem of the move technology and/or your personal setup. I will polarize here a bit but let’s say I’ve a high end keyboard and start argueing that it doesn’t work while connected to the PC, nor does it seem to work under water as I’m living in a fish tank …
I’m just saying that I’ve a semi-roomscale setup for PSVR with a high camera and a tracking area that’s wide enough to cover my whole body including arms reach – so I guess this just will not apply to my experience as much.

daveinpublic

Playstation VR is actually ahead of the curve with a triple A game plus a fantastic peripheral. Looks like those who jumped into Playstation VR are feeling a bit smug. And the chicken and egg problem is slowly going away with actual worthwhile content like this. With the next wave of VR, when Scorpio comes out, they’ll just be building on what everyone else has done, adding their own gun peripheral, using the locomotion schemes of other games, and then things will really start to accelerate.

Candy Cab

As someone who shoots regularly as a hobby this thing feels pretty awkward. Not being able to actually shoulder it takes a lot away from the experience, otherwise it works well enough.